The Dudleys vs. The Ascension vs. Mark Henry and Jack Swagger vs. Darren Young and Damien Sandow in a pre-show match for guaranteed two spots in the Royal Rumble

This seems like the most underwhelming pre-show match ever. I’m pretty apathetic towards everyone involved except those damn Dudleys. I really can’t stand them so of course they’ll win.

Interest Level: 0/10Prediction: The Dudley Boys win.

Tom:

This whole deal is kind of bullshit because I believe it’s for a “guaranteed” two spots in the Rumble, so I’m sure we’ll see some of the losers show up. I, for one, will be fucking furious if we don’t get Mark Henry show up.

Anyway, The Dudley Boyz are winning this because fuck everything.

Interest Level: 1/10Prediction: The Dudley Boyz win.

The New Day vs. The Usos for the WWE Tag Team Championship

Joey:

The irrelevance of RAW these days has made this feud come off overexposed and boring. I don’t imagine there’s a lot of excitement for the match but these guys are all extremely talented. This is their first true big match against each other and I am expecting a huge performance by both teams.

Interest Level: 8/10Prediction: The Usos win.

Tim:

The New Day have had a rough month. I’m expecting them to debut a new musical instrument. Maybe a mandolin or a recorder. The possibilities are endless. ANYWAY, this match will be fine. You can usually expect a solid performance by The Usos. The New Day will be acting wacky like they’re popular Vine stars or something. I say it nearly every month but WWE really needs to work on the tag division.

Interest Level: 5/10Prediction: The New Day wins.

Tom:

Fucking Chris Jericho, man. His return and mini-feud with The New Day was absolutely dreadful and detracted from this match to the point that I forget this was even a current feud. I like both teams a good amount and think this should be fun – Usos are weird, they’re a team that I have a habit of taking for granted but they always pleasantly surprise me when they end up being pretty great. Those leggings they’re wearing are weird though.

Interest Level: 7/10Prediction: The New Day wins.

Charlotte vs. Becky Lynch for the WWE Divas Championship

Joey:

This is one of the better WWE diva programs in quite some time. Becky Lynch is firing on all cylinders and is one of the most compelling performers on WWE television right now. Charlotte is also hitting her peak with the new character hiding some of her flaws. I’m all on board for this and I’m hoping it goes for another month.

Interest Level: 10/10Prediction: Charlotte wins.

Tim:

This feud has been one of the very few good reasons to watch WWE programming this month. Becky Lynch hit a whole new level with her mic work. Charlotte being a heel makes her so much more watchable. This feud has been the most exciting main roster Diva’s feud in a long time and it’s definitely the most interesting feud on WWE TV at the moment. They should really put the belt on Lynch but they seem pretty dedicated to Charlotte holding it. WHATEVER.

Interest Level: 9/10Prediction: Charlotte wins.

Tom:

They finally figured out that having a likeable character clash with an unlikeable character might make for a compelling Divas Championship feud, as opposed to just having them all be varying shades of unpleasant! Who would have thought?!? Becky has been doing a tremendous job lately, both on the mic and in the ring, and Charlotte is MUCH more effective in a heel role. Even mad old Ric has been a decent presence! The Divas Revolution is REAL!!!! WE DID IT!!!

Interest Level: 8/10Prediction: Charlotte retains.

Alberto Del Rio vs. Kalisto for the United States Championship

Joey:

I dig the chemistry between these two and I’m glad this made it to the PPV. My hope here is that Del Rio won the title back so Kalisto could get a bigger championship victory moment on PPV. ADR will likely retain but they have me invested in this match, which is all I can ask for.

Interest Level: 8/10Prediction: Alberto Del Rio wins.

Tim:

The only sensible way for this to end is for Kalisto to win the US title back after losing it in the same week that he surprisingly won it. That obviously means Del Rio will retain it here. I really liked the ending stretch to their first bout so hopefully they can expand on that for the big PPV match.

Interest Level: 7/10

Prediction: Alberto Del Rio wins.

Tom:

Del Rio has still been dragging his feet a bit lately, which is frustrating as I’d really like to see a zippier Kalisto match. That could always happen with this match though! The title back-and-forth bullshit has been frustrating, but hopefully it ends with Kalisto getting it back and he gets a decent showcase as a singles star.

Interest Level: 7/10Prediction: Kalisto wins

Dean Ambrose vs. Kevin Owens in a Last Man Standing Match for the WWE Intercontinental Championship

Joey:

The build for this has been very well done. Kevin Owens and Dean Ambrose going at it every week has added to the story and the match at the Rumble feels like a big one. Given the lack of a singles match featuring the WWE World Championship, these two will have every opportunity to steal the show. I’m still not fond of Deadpool Ambrose but his best work has come against Kevin Owens.

Interest Level: 9/10Prediction: Dean Ambrose wins.

Tim:

Kevin Owens has been highly entertaining as usual through this. Dean Ambrose is still really hard to get behind but I do think this feud heated up a great bit over the past two weeks. I’m ready for this feud to be over with and am excited to see what this match is like. The match stipulation really plays to the strengths of both.

Interest Level: 8/10Prediction: Dean Ambrose wins.

Tom:

Ambrose is still off-putting in some distressing ways but, provided he keeps his wackiness to a minimum, I’m very excited for this. Kevin Owens has done some of his best stuff in no DQ type matches, and I believe this would be his first high-profile match in WWE with that kind of stipulation. Will he make a little construction out of chairs? I hope so!

So, it should be great, especially if Ambrose puts in a similar performance to those Shield/Evolution tag matches or that first PPV match with Rollins. The only thing that could trip it up is if they get stuck with a “creative” finish, since so many perfectly decent Last Man Standing matches get spoiled by silliness involving duct tape or whatever.

Interest Level: 9/10Prediction: Dean Ambrose wins.

Royal Rumble Match for the WWE World Championship

Joey:

I am just happy there are a couple of wrestlers with at least slight chances of winning the Royal Rumble this year with the title on the line. The last few years were such a buzzkill with limited options and minimal excitement for anything aside from fans booing the booking. I’ve gone on the record for weeks now that my prediction is Reigns defeating 29 other men but Triple H being announced as entrant #31 at the last second and screwing him to win the title.

Interest Level: 10/10Prediction: Triple H wins as entrant #31

Tim:

I find a Triple H vs Roman Reigns feud heading into Wrestlemania extremely boring but I do not see them going in any other direction. I would love for them to switch lanes and go all in on someone else as the WWE champ out of nowhere but that’s definitely out of the question. Although it is predictable I am still looking forward to the match just because it is the Royal Rumble. The potential surprises have me looking forward to bein highly upset when they show up just to be thrown out!

Interest Level: 10/10Prediction: Triple H wins.

Tom:

While I disagree with Joey in that I genuinely can’t picture anyone outside of Roman Reigns or Triple H winning the Rumble this year, I’m still looking forward to it an awful lot. As much as it’s all about Reigns, I think the stip could make for a fun dynamic that they hopefully do more with than the dreadful ’99 Rumble which had something sort of similar going on. Also, there’s a lot more potential for mini-stories playing out within the Rumble itself, especially if we see the first appearance of AJ Styles in WWE and/or Sami Zayn make his re-debut on the main roster.

So, yeah! Can’t wait, really hope they do a good job with it and set the ball rolling on a few big ‘Mania matches, rather than just the main event. Just don’t let Jericho ruin it, for fuck’s sake.